


Rainwater

by thedovahcat



Series: The Run-Arounds [5]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 19:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9457583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedovahcat/pseuds/thedovahcat
Summary: Our happy-go-lucky trio stops to wait out the rain and figure out where to go next on their runaround through the Commonwealth. And Nick and Hancock have a minor argument over absolutely nothing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Collabing with sparrowhaven and bringing in another place and more characters :D just for funsies.
> 
> Those will likely be elsewhere, because I get bored really quick and like to just keep whipping things out, and continuity barely exists with me as it is. AHHH

“Look, I dunno why you’re so eager to split. We got a good thing goin’ here Nick.”

The old synth raised a faded brow and eyed the smoking ghoul somewhat incredulously. He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.

“You ARE talking about the rain, right?”

The sky overheard was dark and gray. Thunder occasionally rumbled in the distance, with the rare flash of light illuminating the fluffy, chunky storm clouds.

Cat looked at the both of them, with an audible ‘huh?’ “The rain? What about it? Is that it?”

“What else would I be talking about?! Course I mean the rain!” Hancock threw one of his hands up to motion to their surroundings as a whole. “I think we should just lay low until the weather clears up, is all I’m SAYING.”

“Why? Don’t wanna get that fancy coat of yours wet?” Nick sneered, shaking his head and turning away from him to face the wasteland before them. Call it intuition, or his sensors, but this rain didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon.

The mayor sputtered, “That ain’t it! I just-”

“He doesn’t like the rain. He’s like a cat. Can’t stand gettin’ all wet.” Cat whispered, snickering about it.

“Yeah! Wait-”

“It’s just a little water. Slightly acidic maybe, but it’s not gonna melt your skin off” The detective shook his head as one hand dug around in his coat pocket for a lighter, and the other for a cigarette in the opposite pocket.

“Why do you wanna go out there so bad anyway? Not like we got a hot date on the other side… or wherever we’re going next anyway. Which, if that were the case, I’d say MAYBE I’d chance going through that mess out there.” He looked away briefly, then glanced back at the synth, then to his pockets. “You gonna share?”

“YEAH NICK ARE YOU GONNA-”

“You don’t get one. You’re too young.” Once Nick lit his cigarette, he tossed the pack and lighter over to the ghoul. “Only one. And you, go stand upwind, over there on the other side. I don’t want you breathing in all this stuff.”

Cat hissed at him before skittering to the opposite end of the porch. “I’m not FIVE-”

“No. But I don’t care.” Call it addiction, call it oral fixation. Even the synth ‘needed’ a smoke every now and again.

“Aw c’mon you should let the kitty try one so she can see how horrible they are.” Hancock joked. The ‘horrible’ part was a lie, but only in his eyes. He rather liked smoking as a matter of fact.

“Over my rusted body.”

Cat scowled at them as she stood farther away, at first glaring at the soaking Commonwealth before them, then at the rainwater dripping down the awning they stood under.

The trio had stopped at an old house that had managed to not collapse completely after the bombs fell, and after two hundred something years of time constantly slamming into it. The inside was still far too soggy to sleep in though, so they elected to stay outside and wait out the storm, hoping that the rain would be brief.

So far, that wasn’t looking to be the case.

“Anyway, the reason I wanna get going soon is because there’s a settlement nearby that might be able to help us with who you’re looking for.” Nick continued, taking a drag and letting out a billowing cloud of smoke soon afterwards.

Cat wrinkled her nose somewhat. “A settlement,” She repeated. “What’s it called?”

“Yeah, watcha talkin’ about?” Hancock added, spitting out his own dying smoke-stick and crushing it with his boot. That didn’t last as long as he thought it would.

“It’s a weird little place, with a weird little name. The guy who founded it was some Minuteman by the name of Bedevere, or so I’ve heard anyway from the place’s residents. The settlement took on his name apparently. Got an odd bunch living there. At first I thought it was some extended family all crowded in the same place, but it turns out they’re NOT all related to one another, but some of them knew Bedevere personally. Guess the ‘lord of the manor’ liked to take in strays.”

The mayor leaned back on the enclosed porch’s rotting wooden railing. The beams creaked dangerously under his weight. “Huh, strange…. Don’t think I’ve come across it before though, even with all my driftin’ around. Maybe some traders or folk from Goodneighbor know about it. Never really thought to ask.”

“I’m surprised.” Nick answered flatly. “I thought you always kind of wanted to know what was going on in YOUR town all the time. What, with all that muscle you hire.”

Hancock glared at him. “Hey, a single guy can’t keep watch over an entire town so easily. Besides, it ain’t my style to go prodding into other people’s business on a day to day basis unless-”

“Unless it affects the people. Or you. I know, your majesty.”

“...NOT cool, man.”

Cat rolled her eyes. “I think we should go there then. To the settlement place...thing, and have a look around. Maybe somebody’s seen the Captain there and we can ask about it. Or maybe they’ve heard something.” It’d be a great lead to follow up on.

“As soon as all this rain lets up we’ll go, so the frog prince here doesn’t have a conniption.”

“If you’re gonna harass me you better come say it to my face or we’re going to have a serious problem here-” The ghoul hissed, stepping into Nick’s bubble of personal space and trying to be menacing about it.

Nick remained unfazed by it all. “Suit yourself. Don’t go taking everything personally.”

“LADIES, calm down. We’ll just wait it out… Then we’ll go.” Cat jumped in between them, pushing them apart (only a few inches really.)

Neither the ghoul nor the synth looked at one another for the next hour or so.


End file.
